CANBERRA- Chicago soybean futures rose to their highest in six weeks on Monday, as speculators bet on higher prices amid strong demand for US beans and soymeal.
Wheat futures fell slightly as shipments from Ukrainian Black Sea ports resumed after a three-day pause, while corn rose.
“There is strong demand for soymeal which is flowing through to US soybean pricing,” said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at Australian consultancy Episode 3.
“One factor contributing to this is that Argentina has had a poor crop, and that is reducing globally available meal supplies,” Whitelaw added.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.8 percent at $13.30-1/4 a bushel, having earlier reached $13.31, the highest since Sept. 18.
CBOT wheat was 0.3 percent lower at $5.74 a bushel and corn rose 0.6 percent to $4.83-1/2 a bushel.
Soybeans were on track for their biggest monthly gain since February 2022, up about 4.3 percent . Soymeal has rallied even faster, with CBOT December meal up around 15 percent this month after reaching a contract high of $448.4 a ton on Friday.